Phish's Fest 8: By The Numbers
The Empire Polo Club in Indio, California--also the site of the yearly Coachella festival--was taken over by Phish Nation for a weekend-long fest this Halloween, at which the band continued its Halloween tradition of playing a secret-till-showtime classic record (in this case, the Stones' Exile On Main Street) in its entirety.
But as much as Phish Fest 8 was about the music, man, it was also about the scene. Here's how the weekend broke down:
Number of sets of music played: 8
Number of sets of music played by Phish: 8
Number of sets of music played by Phish with at least one song lasting more than 10 minutes: 7
Length of the Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street: 1:06:48
Length of Phish's "Musical Costume" Cover of Exile On Main Street: 1:47:59
Number of minutes of Phish's cover of Exile On Main Street devoted to sweet, sweet noodling: 41:11
Number of projected fans in attendance: 39,534
Number of projected fans in attendance who sat down when directed to during the band's first-ever acoustic set on Sunday: 37,102
Amount of time it took to walk from the Ferris wheel at one side of the grounds to the wall at the other side of the grounds: One spastic "Guellah Papyrus," a funky "Undermind," and a dark, extended "Split Open And Melt"
Number of fire-spewing art sculptures: Approximately 10
Number of fire-spewing art sculptures with fire on the ceiling that you could sit under and pretend you were experiencing your personal trip to hell if you took too much acid [just sayin']: 1
Number of "art" sculptures composed of hundreds of balloons with LED lights: 2
Number of those "art" sculptures that flew over the crowd, blimp-like: 1
Percentage of attendees dressed up for Halloween: 74.5%
Number of attendees dressed up for Halloween like a "Golden Shower" complete with working showerhead: 1
Number of times we were offered "doses": 1
Number of times we saw people who probably were on "doses": 48
Number of animals spotted in the venue: 1 dog
Number of babies under the age of 5 spotted in the venue: Approximately 32
Percent chance those babies will lie about their first show to avoid ridicule when they're in middle school: 47%
